


Love Letters from Amarathine

by theoddling



Series: The Moments In Between (Dragon Age Origins) [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: spoilers for Dragon Age: Awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 22:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16504094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoddling/pseuds/theoddling
Summary: Newly married and even more newly named Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Arlessa of Amaranthine, Ellwynn Cousland-Theirin finds herself playing the hero again and venting her stress in letters, which she hopes will make Alistair smile and not give him an aneurysm when/if he receives them.





	Love Letters from Amarathine

Dear Alistair,  
I don’t know where you are or if this letter will even find you, but I hope it finds you well, and I’ve been thinking about you, as always, and wanted to fill you in on all that you’re missing.  
I have officially moved in at Vigil’s Keep as the new Arlessa and Warden-Commander. The welcome wasn’t quite what I expected. When we arrived we found that the Keep had been overrun by darkspawn. They had launched an ambush; I hardly believed it, but there it was. It took some work to clear them out, but in the process we learned some disturbing things. Nearly all of the wardens at were killed in the attack, but some of them were missing. Then as if the night couldn’t get any worse, we found that the attack was led by a very strange sort of darkspawn, one that could talk and had far more intelligence than any darkspawn we’ve seen before. I’m scared of what this means, and I wish desperately that you were here.  
Nathaniel Howe was caught breaking into the Keep a few days before I arrived and it took four wardens to stop him. He was imprisoned for me to deal with later and somehow he (and the dungeon on a whole) managed to escape unscathed so I had to figure out what to do about that. He hates me almost as much as I hated his father I think. He even admitted that he broke in to reclaim some of his family’s belongings that are still here but that he considered setting a trap to kill me while he was here. In the end, I couldn’t kill him for what his father did, he can be reasoned with if he’s anything like the boy I once knew still and he’s good at what he does. So since we’re suddenly short on recruits and I am possibly the last Grey Warden in Ferelden, again, I conscripted him. He seemed to treat that like a fate worse than death, but I think he’ll get over it in time.  
Speaking of recruits and the Joining, there were three others. Ser Mhairi was a knight recruited from Denerim who was escorting me to the Vigil. She was eager to join the wardens, and driven to slaughter every darkspawn in sight after we found her friend Rowland dying in the hall. Spirited, good with a blade, and driven by vengeance, sound familiar? I only wish there was something I could have done for her; she didn’t survive the Joining.  
Anders, on the other hand, did survive. He was an apostate mage I found while clearing out the darkspawn. He says he and the Templars escorting him to the Tower were set upon by the darkspawn, and that that’s how the Templars were killed, but I’m not sure I believe him, or particularly care. All I know is that I found him in a room full of slaughtered darkspawn and two dead Templars and he didn’t seem repentant at all. I needed all the help I could get so I had him come with Mhairi and I and was planning on washing my hands of him after, but then I don’t know why, I conscripted him instead of letting the Templars who came with Anora (she stopped by hoping to give me a proper welcome to my new Arling but the darkspawn screwed that all up and she couldn’t stay long, so I don’t have much news from her) take him. We’ll see if I regret that.  
I think you’d be amused by our last recruit. Apparently life with Felsi wasn’t all Oghren wanted it to be, despite the fact that they were seemingly happy and had a child together. He left her and came to the Vigil where I found him happily hacking up darkspawn. He told me that he wanted to become a Warden and do something with himself, and when I tried to warn him of the risk he pointed out that there was risk in everything. During the Joining he was just as surly and humorous as ever, barely noticing the pain of it and letting out a belch that rather offended our seneschal. Until I had him back watching my back, I didn't realize how much I missed him...  
Now, because we are short on men and the Arling is full of problems, I am responsible for everything from placating the nobles under me to searching for lost scouts and investigating leads on how the darkspawn got into the Vigil and why they didn’t return to the Deep Roads after the Archdemon was slain. I am tired and had hoped that following the Battle of Denerim I could rest, visit my brother, see everyone settled into their new roles or off to wherever they were going, and then slowly step into my role as Warden-Commander and as your wife, but alas it seems that things are never going to be simple for us.  
Have I mentioned that I miss you? Oh Maker, I miss you terribly.  
I love you.  
Ellwynn Cousland-Theirin  
~~  
Dear Alistair,  
I was abducted by darkspawn who had dragon thralls; don’t worry we killed them all and escaped. And I ran into Wynne here in Amaranthine. She’s the same as ever, though she now absolutely swears she’s too old for adventuring, so I could not convince her to come with me, and besides she has her own problems with some sort of Mage College (is it wrong of me to admit I was only half listening when she talked of it?). One of the Dwarven representatives at the keep is experimenting with lyrium sand and knows how to make it explode! Because exploding dwarves and dwarf inventions is exactly what I need to uncomplicate this situation…  
I’ve added a Dalish mage who is very angry, and apparently an exile from her clan, to my group of recruits. Her sister was taken and infected by the darkspawn, but maintained her humanity enough to help with our escape from the silverite mine where we were being held. Also, Nathaniel is smitten with her. (Nathaniel may also be smitten with three stable hands, the private whose only apparent job is to deliver my mail, and Anders, but I don’t think that’s the point.)  
Speaking of him, he’s finally starting to come around on the whole me vs. his father situation, so we can go back to him watching my back. Before you give me that concerned grumpy face of yours, I know Nate. He’s not his father. He’s a good man and I trust him. Besides, when hasn’t recruiting the worst and/or least trustworthy worked out?  
Anders has proven…interesting. His personality is not unlike yours, in that he relies heavily on sarcasm to hide his true feelings and thoughts, or Zevran in his charm (or at least in thinking he has charm) but his bitterness at the Templars and the Chantry…they make Morrigan look devout and pious. From what he describes having gone through, I can’t exactly blame him for those feelings, it’s just that I worry it could be a problem somewhere down the road, but unfortunately I haven’t got time to solve it in advance. I’m worried for him, and everyone around him.  
Lastly, I didn’t think it was possible for Oghren to become more of an alcoholic, but since Felsi showed up and they argued, let’s just say that I am grateful to Howe for indulging his own, rather extensive and varied, beverage preferences.  
I wish you were by my side.  
I love you.  
Ellwynn Cousland-Theirin  
~~  
Dear Alistair,  
I recruited a member of the Legion of the Dead, the last member actually thanks to an unfortunate darkspawn massacre of the rest. I don’t know why the Wardens have never thought of doing that before honestly. Who knows the Deep Roads and understands darkspawn the way they do? No one among the living that I can think of certainly. Anyway, her name is Sigrun and she’s kind of adorable.  
We also have the corpse of a Warden named Kristoff. It’s been possessed by a benevolent Fade spirit of Justice accidentally, but since the spirit can’t go back through the Veil…it’s complicated I guess? And incredibly unnerving.  
I don’t know if you’re getting my letters, but I like to think that you are, and chuckling at them, not fretting over me.  
Come home soon.  
I love you.  
Ellwynn Cousland-Theirin  
~~  
Dear Alistair,  
This is it. Again. The darkspawn army is overrunning Amaranthine and I go to fight them, with only Sigrun, Oghren, and Anders at my back, plus whomever survived from the city guard and the Vigil’s soldiers sent to defend it. The rest will remain at the Vigil in case the darkspawn think to strike there as well. I know not what will happen, but I wish you were here with me.  
In case my luck runs out this time, know that I love you and will always be with you.  
[The rest of the letter is smudged, battered, and contains large sections of text that have been scribbled through in frustration. This section has clearly been scrapped and rewritten several times, after the final showdown between the Warden-Commander and her companions and The Mother and her minions.]  
The Architect, he called himself. He wanted to free the darkspawn from the call of the Archdemons. He used Warden blood and a version of the Joining to do it. I wonder if he could stop the Joining…It would be no worse than working with Avernus…I think. I might go to find him again, once all this is over and I have more time. Damn cleanup operations though, and there’s bound to be more questions that I need to avoid at Warden Headquarters.  
I allied with him to stop the creature called “The Mother” which was his own creation gone mad with self-awareness, so I think he owes me in return. I’ve no idea if I’m doing the right thing though. Maker I wish you were here with me, you’d know what to do.  
I love you.  
Ellwynn Cousland-Theirin


End file.
